Disposable pipette tips often are packaged in supporting trays that function to organize the tips and to aid in the placement of a tip or a plurality of tips on a pipetter. Some prior art pipette tip trays have an open bottom and an open top, while others are supported within an enclosed container. Placing the tray within a container having a lid is preferable, since such an arrangement permits the pipette tips to be supported and organized for use in the same container in which they are shipped and in which they may be autoclaved. During autoclaving, the lid of the container may be tilted or removed entirely to allow circulation of ambient gasses to the pipette tips within the interior of the container. Alternatively, the lid of the container may be realigned to provide a gap between the lid and the sides of the container to allow gasses to circulate into the interior of the container. Vents provided in the tray allow the gasses to circulate throughout the container on both sides of the tray during the autoclaving process. An example of such a prior art structure is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,377.
After the autoclaving process has been completed, the lid is closed on the container to prevent contamination of the pipette tips from dust, moisture and other airborne contaminants. The container may now be used for shipment or storage of the pipette tips in a sterilized condition.
Some prior art pipette tip trays used with a container either cannot be removed from the container, or are very difficult to remove. The inability to remove the tray from the container or the difficulty encountered in removing the tray prevents easy movement of the tray and pipette tips from the container to another support structure, and makes it difficult to sterilize and reuse the containers. Moreover, in many existing container-supported trays, there is insufficient circulation of the ambient gasses from the top of the tray to the lower portion of the tray within the container to provide adequate sterilization of the pipette tips during the autoclaving process. Finally, some pipette tip trays provide insufficient lateral support for the pipette tips disposed therein to avoid misalignment during use of a pipetter.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a container-supported pipette tip tray which provided increased ventilation between the upper and lower portions of the tray while still providing a rigid support for the pipette tips. Moreover, it would be desirable to be able to easily remove and/or replace the trays in the containers. Finally, it would also be desirable to provide increased lateral support for the tips within the tray, particularly when using a multi-channel pipetter.